FIFA Women’s World Cup to deliver up to $16M for Ottawa’s economy: study

Soccer’s international governing body is promising to pump as much as $16.5 million into Ottawa’s economy when the FIFA Women’s World Cup is held here in 2015, according to a new study.

(Stock image)

By Jacob Serebrin

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2014 and the Women’s World Cup could have an economic impact of $337 million across Canada, the study from the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance said.

The Sport Tourism Alliance used the Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM) to come up with the numbers.

The model was designed to create a standardized measure of the economic impact of large sporting events. It plugs a series of organizers’ estimates – such as how many people will be visiting the city – then spits out a dollar value for the estimated impact.

The two tournaments will be held in cities across Canada. Ottawa will only be hosting some of the Women’s World Cup events.